CapOne Secured..Interesting Email from them...

[TM0312]

So, I emailed Capital One yesterday through the Capital One site regarding my secured card. Even though I've had that card for 2 years now, (plus my car loan),

have NEVER been late or had the limit over 20% untilization (mostly stays under $20), I have never received any CLI (like I know they do on the secured card)

or have not been able to be approved for any unsecured cards with them. Mind you, I have zero collections on my CRs and the only thing left are two closed accounts

about 5-6 years old showing up as negative. Here is the response I got...

"Capital One will periodically review accounts for graduation from
secured to unsecured cards, but we cannot provide specifics on when
these reviews will occur"

Interesting, because I thought they didn't do that!! At least that's what their CS rep said when I called over a year ago...Anyone know anything about this??

[FSFdoppleganger]

The exact same scenario happened with my wife account as well. She had a car loan and a secured account stuck at $551. After 11 months with no cli, I decided to ask for a cli on her behalf. Mind you, she was just approved for a $3500.00 unsecured NFCU card. I had the exact same reply...and guess what? I reply back "Thank you for your quick reply. It was really nice banking with you".

Two weeks later, I closed the card and moved the car loan to NFCU and went from 17.22 APR to 4.09... Laughing all the way to my saving's account...

[Anonymous]

They are not going to increase your limit if your not spending money with them every month. I just raised my $500 cc limit with BoA to 1500 but i believe they would of raised it even more if i asked, because i basically max the card out after the New Statement and then i pay it down to 9% by the cut off date. I suggest using your card to pay bills and then paying it off by the due date or cut off date and then requesting a limit increase after doing it for a couple months

[hitch345]

So out of curiousity, I logged into my account and did the chat now.  I have two secured cards with them that are almost 2 years old.  Below is what the rep said copied from the chat window.

Rep- "Currently there is no graduation plan in place to change a Secured Card to an Unsecured Card.  I am unable to comment on future plans.  My suggestion for you is to definitely keep your account in good standing by continuing to make your payments on time and keep using our card for your purchasing needs."

Of course I got the pitch to apply online for an unsecured card and I stated I did not want to waste a hard inquiry at this time.  The rep came back with this, which may have already been known but new to me.

Rep- "Our review to determine your eligibility will not impact your credit score.  This does not generate an additional inquiry."

Me- "So if I apply for another product or just the unsecured platinum card I won't be hit with a hard inquiry on my credit report?

Rep- "Yes, you are correct"

I'm not ready to app just yet since I am gardening and want to get a higher starting CL later, but I was unaware of this.